1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for producing sec-butanol and sec-butyl tert-butyl ether and possibly tert-butyl alcohol from hydrocarbon mixtures containing butane, such as occur in crude oil production or crude oil refining.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known from German OS No. 26 20 011 and OS 29 21 576 to convert butane into methyl tert-butyl ether. In those processes n-butane is partially or completely isomerized into isobutane (2-methylpropane) and the n-butane-isobutane mixture is dehydrogenated forming n-butenes in addition to isobutene. The dehydrogenation reaction mixture is then etherified with an excess of methanol, whereby the isobutene formed in the dehydrogenation step is converted to methyl tert-butyl ether. The excess methanol from the etherification reaction mixture can be removed either with water or by azeotropic distillation.